A Winter's Lunch!

Is there anything better on a cold winter's day than a hot cup of fresh, homemade chicken soup?

Last week while grocery shopping, I picked up an 8-pound Perdue roasting chicken. After our hike in the snowy gamelands on Saturday, my husband and I cooked that beautiful bird, with all the trimmings.

He is the chief cook and choreographer of the kitchen dance. I am the buyer of groceries, slicer and dicer of ingredients, in charge of side dishes, chief clean-up girl, and baker-girl, a maker of pies.

The meal we made on Saturday rivaled my mother's famous baked chicken dinners that I pine for (but only get about once a year now, on Christmas; still, I'm grateful!). The chicken was golden-skinned and tender, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. The fried bread stuffing (filling, we call it at home) tasted almost like my mother's. The mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli with cheese and bacon were to die for.

And so it was with great enthusiasm that on Monday, we took the leftover white meat from that chicken and made soup. The ingredients were just fresh chicken and vegetables (onions, potatoes, carrots), egg noodles, one packet of dry soup mix, one container of leftover gravy.

We served the soup with the very last of my mother's pickled eggs from Christmas dinner (it's the Pennsylvania Dutch kind, pickled in a mixture of red beet juice and vinegar), a few slices of sharp cheddar cheese, and crusty garlic bread with melted cheese on top.

Now THIS is a meal for a winter's day lunch!